Ragdolls > Actors

Yeah, you may have guessed I get a lot of people asking if they could act in my Gmod movies regardless of my preference not to. I think people really deserve an explaination as to why that is.

Well for starters, it's not because I can't stand working with other people ... okay, so maybe it is, but the OTHER reason is because ragdolls offer a much, MUCH wider variety of entertainment with their customizable movements as long as you know what you're doing. Yeah, I know, there's also faceposer, but you're still using pre-set animations most of the time. My point is, by using actors who run around using preset playermodel animations, bobbing their heads and spewing their god awful voice acting, I believe it takes a very large portion of the entertainment value away. Plus manipulating ragdolls has a strange charm to it, especially for the actual Gmod players. Not only will the humor be there, the Gmod players will sit and wonder in amazement how you pulled it off too. I still have many, many people believing that Billy Mays VS Vince was done with multiple ragdoll animators in a server, when the four extra people in the credits actually helped with finding me audio, maps and giving me a new productions logo. The posing and editing was done by me alone.

Another problem I have with use of actors is the fact that they simply cannot control themselves. Swear to God, every actor I've ever known act like they're at the computer eating a heaping bowl of Captain Crunch with a mountain of sugar and ground up Ritalin pills. I went into a server once to help a member of the "Shadow Of Death Clan" film a Gmod movie he was doing, but 8 / 10 players just ran around deathmatching each other until the director just gave up and started making a building look like it was exploding instead.

All right, so let's say you've finally found some good actors. Well besides the first argument I've made against the use of actors, there's also the problem of finding a server ... ah yes ... a server. You have to manage the shit out of it, put up all the mods on it and hope all your actors have the same mods that it does, actors LOVE shouting over each other, you could be amped to film a certain scene but not all your actors could be online and of course, they always try to butt in on your script or say they're not getting enough scenes. If I ever actually did need actors, I have two of my best friends on that job and they're all I could ever need. As for using actors beyond them, I can pretty much say for sure that if I used those in all my movies, not only would they not even be half as funny, but I'd have pulled all my hair out and called it quits after GIB3 with how much a pain in the ass it is to work with general actors as a director.

So in closing, ragdolls don't shout, argue, deathmatch and are always punctual when you need them. They don't create drama to deal with, they go with your script no matter how stupid or nonsensical and when you don't need them anymore, it's simple as a remover tool away. I do apprieciate the fan support, as I believe I have some of the best fans out there, but use of ragdolls in singleplayer will always remain my style. What I REALLY could use are a team of people who are good at creating custom ragdolls and maps. Now that kind of help I can cheer for with my thruster propelled arms.